Examples of the Void:

The bar was dingy. Galem thought about that statement. It was true of nearly every bar this far out in the boondocks of the galaxy. What was impressive was that this bar was dingy even by those standards. He swept one eye over the holo-idol rocking out in the corner, her mesmer dance creating the music that pulsed through the walls of the bar.

There were few enough people in the bar that she was working extra hard in the hope of making enough to cover her time. An Apex, lithe and impossibly elegant when she moved. Her performance had attracted the attention of two very drunk young Dorin. One looked to be a Street Rager, going by the chains and brass knuckles he wasn’t even bothering to conceal. The other was trying to be clever and hide the fact that he was a Dreadnaught operator. However, hiding a massive backpack the size of the person was easier said than done. Trust a Dorin to be clever.

Actually, scratch that. Don’t trust a Dorin. About anything. Or anyone else, for that matter. First lesson of being a Greylin: Other races were not to be trusted.

The weapon scanner at the door buzzed as an Elesian walked in. Long ears were augmented by cybernetic implants. From the looks of it, she would be able to hear well enough that there wouldn’t be a point blinding her. Given that Galem was trying to arrest this particular Elesian, he didn’t find that fact particularly comforting. He reached out, felt the… otherness at the edge of his mind. This is the target. You hesitate. Waver. You are concerned. She is capable, but her powers are nothing but technological baubles. You shall show her the fate of those who disrespect  our land between lands, our darkness between the stars. Galem felt a surge of power, and a darkness suffuse his vision. Time to work. He smiled at the Holo-idol, felt the focus of her mind centered entirely on her work. Singularly concentrated. Completely undefended. Galem smiled. The Void would be fed well tonight.

“Wake up, Daddy!”
Slowly, blearily, Ryke blinked his eyes open. He felt as though he was moving through quicksand as he turned his head towards the tiny energetic bundle of excitement next to the bed.

“Wake up, Daddy! You said that you would take me to the park today! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”

The bed seemed impossibly comfortable, but a promise was a promise, and he hated to disappoint his daughter. It felt like he wasn’t able to see her as often as he should have. Things had just been so… busy recently. His body hurt. His ribs ached, and he didn’t want to look, for fear that he would see horrible bruises and call her attention to them. That would scare her, and that was hardly a goal. He struggled to his feet, and smiled down. “Sure thing, honey. Get your coat on. After all, a promise…”

“Is a promise!” She disappeared, laughing, hopefully to pull on a coat.

They walked down the street. The weather was warm, and the sky was a lovely shade of blue. It seemed like it had been so long since Ryke had walked down a street like this. No running, no hiding, no wondering what the sightlines were, or where there was cover. Ryke tried to remember when the last time was, but it felt like it was just out of reach. He strained his memory, stretching towards the glimmer of a point of recollection. A hovercar. Beautiful weather, a blue sky. A… hovercar.

“Daddy, candy!”

The memory was gone, the point of recollection faded. Ryke looked up and saw the stand, with the vendbot waiting expectantly behind the cart. They were… antiquated, but something about the bots appealed to children, explaining why you only saw them for treats and toys anymore, at least in the more upscale areas.

Upscale areas… The point of recollection suddenly loomed closer, as if by taking his mind off of it he had allowed it to rush towards him. Visiting an upscale area… Hovercar… the pain in his ribs… Why why why why why? His vision had faded, a field of pure black, featureless and blank.

Distantly, drifting, the voice: “Daddy? Daddy? Daddy, I’m scared! Daddy, wake up! Wake up!”

unit003459.routine(wake)-[Execute]

The letters floated in bright green against the black field. His visual field began to resolve into a shapes, metal, glass, tubes. He stirred, then started at the fact that his ribs didn’t hurt. He reached for them, and as he looked, saw a metallic hand touching a torso that sheened like bright silver.

“How? What?” He felt like there was something he should remember, felt his processors trying to isolate a file that he thought he had been reviewing but now couldn’t clearly recall.

Dr. Kaybler strode into view, her smile tinged with confusion. 86% probability that she was wondering at his actions. “Are you ready to go, RU-59? I was promised that you would be available to escort me to the Dark Zone today.

RU-59 paused, stretching his hands, performing sub-system checks using background processing while attending to his weapons and armor statuses with his primary systems. The question took an extra moment to process for some reason. “Of course, Dr. Kaybler. A promise is a promise, after all.” A sub-sub-processor momentarily noticed the phrasing and initiated a query into the phrasing, but it was swept away in the midst of many other protocols.